scientists seem to be split on whether they are indeed no longer endagered

"Although it is difficult to capture an overall trend, there is a general lack of evidence of a significant continuing decline in the global snow leopard population," David P Mallon and Rodney Jackson, both veterans on snow leopards, wrote in the journal Oryx recently.

But some scientists are critical of that conclusion.

"[For that conclusion] less than 2% of the global snow leopard range has been sampled using scientifically acceptable techniques, such as camera-trapping and genetics," says associate professor Guillaume Chapron, with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

"And those 2% have been surveyed because there was an a priori expectation that this would be good snow leopard habitat.

"This is not a proper scientific reasoning. You do not choose a method based on the results it gives."

Experts say habitat range for snow leopards extends over nearly two million square kilometres, involving 12 countries in central and northern Asia including the Himalayan ranges.

These are places with tough topography that helps snow leopards remain elusive.

This is why some scientists call them "cryptic wide-ranging species that are almost impossible to count - and therefore their population needs to be estimated".

But they also admit that there is a danger of misrepresenting the true numbers through this type of estimation.

"An immediate impact of down-listing snow leopard may be that the range country governments and conservation entities would de-emphasise (whatever little extant) conservation efforts they have on the ground to other perceived (lesser) conservation needs," said Professor Ale.

Scientists in the other camp believe that a down-listing is a positive development and will motivate donor governments to continue funding - including for snow leopards - as they will see that conservation efforts do work.

"Snow leopards are still very, very threatened with extinction, we cannot let up our conservation efforts," said Dr McCarthy.

so the guestimate could be way off, and by down-listing the status, it could actually hurt conservation efforts.

scientists seem to be split on whether they are indeed no longer endagered

"Although it is difficult to capture an overall trend, there is a general lack of evidence of a significant continuing decline in the global snow leopard population," David P Mallon and Rodney Jackson, both veterans on snow leopards, wrote in the journal Oryx recently.

But some scientists are critical of that conclusion.

"[For that conclusion] less than 2% of the global snow leopard range has been sampled using scientifically acceptable techniques, such as camera-trapping and genetics," says associate professor Guillaume Chapron, with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

"And those 2% have been surveyed because there was an a priori expectation that this would be good snow leopard habitat.

"This is not a proper scientific reasoning. You do not choose a method based on the results it gives."

Experts say habitat range for snow leopards extends over nearly two million square kilometres, involving 12 countries in central and northern Asia including the Himalayan ranges.

These are places with tough topography that helps snow leopards remain elusive.

This is why some scientists call them "cryptic wide-ranging species that are almost impossible to count - and therefore their population needs to be estimated".

But they also admit that there is a danger of misrepresenting the true numbers through this type of estimation.

"An immediate impact of down-listing snow leopard may be that the range country governments and conservation entities would de-emphasise (whatever little extant) conservation efforts they have on the ground to other perceived (lesser) conservation needs," said Professor Ale.

Scientists in the other camp believe that a down-listing is a positive development and will motivate donor governments to continue funding - including for snow leopards - as they will see that conservation efforts do work.

"Snow leopards are still very, very threatened with extinction, we cannot let up our conservation efforts," said Dr McCarthy.

so the guestimate could be way off, and by down-listing the status, it could actually hurt conservation efforts.

Exactly. They're still listed as Vulnerable, meaning there's less than 10,000 adults in the wild and the population is declining.

Not to take away from the celebration or anything, but we still need to maintain efforts to preserve this amazing creature's existence.